


On the First Night of Hanukkah, My True Love Gave to Me

by hmg621



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Billy doesn't know anything about being Jewish but he's trying, Billy tries to be a good boyfriend, Established Relationship, Fluff, Jewish!Steve, M/M, soft, soft boys being in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:20:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27568165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmg621/pseuds/hmg621
Summary: Billy and Steve start a holiday tradition.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 8
Kudos: 16
Collections: Harringrove Holiday Exchange 2020





	On the First Night of Hanukkah, My True Love Gave to Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sekushi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sekushi/gifts).



Steve could hear the music before he even opened the door. Which meant the neighbors would probably start complaining in about an hour. Their apartment had walls Steve was pretty sure were literally made of tissue paper. 

But it was cheap, far away from Hawkins, and most importantly, it was theirs.

When Billy had leaned over one night and said "Run away with me, pretty boy," Steve's immediate response was, "Just say when."

That was how they ended up here in San Francisco. Billy going to college and Steve working at a cute bookstore in the Castro, trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life (besides be with Billy, that is). But they were together and they were free. Steve decided that was enough; the rest would get worked out along the way.

Steve opened the door to their one-bedroom apartment and was greeted with the blaring music along with the lingering smell of smoke. Of course, they tried to always have a window open when they smoked, but this didn't smell like cigarettes; this smelled like something had burnt. Steve, on alert, looked around the living room/dining area. The only thing out of the ordinary there was that it was clean and the table was set with the best they had. But the candles weren’t even lit, so the smell wasn't from in there. Logic told Steve the kitchen would make the most sense, but he wasn't prepared for what he saw when he turned the corner. 

There was flour everywhere, a brown splatter above the stove, and a hunk of something on a tray on the stove that looked more like a giant charcoal briquette than whatever it was supposed to be. And in the middle of this disaster area was Billy with his eyes closed, sitting on the floor leaning against the cabinets.

"Oh my god! Billy, what happened?" He moved to turn off the radio before crouching by Billy's side, "Are you okay?"

Billy opened his eyes and tipped his head towards Steve.

"Are you hurt?" Steve asked.

"It's the first night of Hanukkah."

"Ummmm, yeah," Steve's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "it is. Are you okay? Let me see, let me look."

"I'm fine." Billy grabbed Steve's hands before he could start checking for any damage. "Dinner's ruined. But I'm fine. The doughnut things wouldn't mix right, the sauce exploded, I fucked up the brisket, and I was so fucking done I didn't even do the latkes. So all we have are raw shredded potatoes." Billy was practically shouting by the end.

Billy wiped his face as Steve stared at him, confused.

"I know I can be kinda slow sometimes, but I don't understand."

Billy sighed, "It's Hanukkah. It's the first night of Hanukkah. It's," he paused, "it's  _ our _ first Hanukkah. I wanted to make a special dinner with all the right stuff. I cleaned the whole fucking place, I had the table set, I was going to wear that sweater you like, I even went to the kosher butcher across town for the meat." His voice continued to rise again as he went on, "It was all supposed to be a surprise because you said your family never really did anything for Hanukkah. So I wanted to make up for that and do something. And have  _ us  _ do something. And to make a big deal because you never had that and I just..." he sighed again, trying not to let how upset he was make him cry, "I just wanted it to be perfect," he said in barely a whisper.

Seeing his boyfriend on the verge of tears over a burnt dinner made tears spring to his own eyes. Steve sat down in the mess next to Billy.

"Maybe I shouldn't tell you this," Steve says gently, "but the reason my family never did anything big for Hanukkah was because it's not that big of a holiday. Like, it's important, but everyone non-Jewish thinks it's  _ super  _ important because it's around Christmas."

"You're telling me this now?" Billy gave Steve an exasperated look.

"I didn't know you were gonna go to all this trouble. I didn't even realize you were paying attention to when Hanukkah was. I only remembered it started tonight last week."

It was then that Steve realized he never really talked about being Jewish with Billy. The only conversation they ever really had about it was:

  
  


_ "Wait. You're Jewish?" _

_ "How did you not know that? You've seen my dick." _

_ "A lot of guys are circumcised these days." Billy shrugged. _

_ "You're not." _

_ "My mom's a hippie." _

  
  


That was it. Any other information, like how he spent the holidays, was always just little passing bits. He didn't realize Billy was keeping track of all of that stuff.

And while Steve and his family were far from orthodox, being the only Jewish family in town did kind of tamp down the desire to do much, even for the big holidays.

Billy had quietly started smoking a cigarette while Steve was lost in his thoughts. 

"You know," Steve said, pulling Billy's attention back to him, "I know I love you  _ so much _ . But sometimes it floors me how much you love me."

Billy didn't have an answer to that besides to blush and pull Steve in for a kiss.

"We still don't have anything to eat for dinner."

"Then we do what all Jews do. We order Chinese."

Billy let out a surprised laugh and Steve smiled.

"And hey," Steve said, bumping their shoulders, "you said you hadn't started the latkes, so why don't we do those together? We can start a tradition. We'll make latkes, I'll light the candles and say the prayers, and we'll watch a movie. What'd you say?"

"There's nothing on but Christmas movies."

"Okay, so we'll watch a Christmas movie. Merge the holidays. Make them ours."

  
That's how the Harrington-Hargrove household spent their first Hanukkah; curled up on the sofa watching  _ It's a Wonderful Life  _ and eating latkes. They knew it wasn't perfect, but it's how they started their first holiday tradition.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written in front of a live cat audience. Beta’ing and Jewish consultation for this fic provided by: Ananeiah
> 
> Ps. I made the tiniest Nightmare before Xmas reference, and if you find it, I’ll give you a prize.


End file.
